I have made a recording of the first movement of my Sonata (Allegro) myself. I have to thank a lot Riley Tucker, that he has transcribed my little composition as a pdf-file, made a recording and even an orchestral arrangement of it. I appreciate his performance, which is played well. (He just forgot his good equipment or similar, so that the sound-quality of his recording wasn´t good enough to go on the main-site, so I hope, my new recording will work for that. I have done it with my usual equipment, Neumann KM184 mics etc.) I am also interested in his works, since he is a talented composer. As a return of his favor I have recorded his new piano piece "Giacoso" (see the topic here on PS, if you like). So, I think, we have started a nice collabaration, which we will continue!

You can watch me playing my old little piece also on YouTube. The mp3-file is exactly the sound-track of the video.

For all, who are interested, I copy the description, which I have written for my YouTube-channel, here:

This is one of my youthful follies (german: Jugendsünden) ;D It was a fun to replay this old little piece, composed by myself in 1984, when I was thirteen years old. I think, it expresses quite a lot of passion and feelings of the time of the beginning adolescence, though it mainly was an attempt to write a piece in classical respective early romantic style then and it was simply meant to be an exercise to learn the sonata form. This task I was assigned to my former teacher, Franz-Josef Streuff, I took lessons in composition in that time. So some of his help (and ideas) found their way into this piece. The whole sonata contains four movements in summary, this is only the first. The first theme consists of the notes a, d, e, a, f, a, which is a play with my name: These are all musical notes of "Andreas Pfaul", if you drop the letters, which are no musical notes (like n, r, p f.ex.). The second theme (in f-Major) has nothing to do with a name. It´s just a lyrical opposite to the first one (which is also quite lyrical, by the way ;D).I would like to dedicate this recording to my appreciated teacher and friend, Franz-Josef Streuff, who has died in septembre 2011. (See also my playlist of his works, if you like.)I took private lessons by Mr. Streuff from 1982-1987. Then I began to study composition at the "Musikhochschule" of Cologne by Jürg Baur (1918-2010, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrg_Baur) and later Krzysztof Meyer (*1943, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Meyer). I finished my composition lessons by Mr. Streuff with a final piano solo recital with only compositions by myself in April 1987 in my old school, Nelly-Sachs-Gymnasium in Neuss. I finished my studies as a Young Student (german: Jungstudent) in the subject "composition" when I made my final school examinations (german: Abitur) in 1991. In Wintersemester 1991/1992 I began my studies in school music and german literature and philology at the "Musikhochschule" and University of Cologne.Occasion for this recording was a recording my friend Riley Tucker (USA) made of my piece. (See the topic on pianosociety.com, if you like: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5620) He is member and site-administrator of pianosociety.com and composer himself. (See my playlist of his compositions, if you like.) As a return of his favor I have recorded a new composition by himself (Giacoso), which he has dedicated to me, for this channel and for pianosociety.com. (Reverse he recorded my piece as a return of the favor, I have recorded his piano composition "Stalemate" for this channel and for pianosociety.com, by the way. ;D )

Btw, could someone tell me, how I can Switch off the correction of writing in Internet Explorer, please? (It´s really enerving, because it seems to be on german language and underlines me nearly every english word.)

A recording by the composer, horray! I am very happy to hear your recording of this piece, your Jugendsünden since you have been nice enough to let me try it out! I had a listen and sense from it that I have made a lot of errors and of those that the beginning should have been much faster of my recording.

I think most people define a piece by its composer so for that reason I am glad you were able to brand it the way you see to it that it should be branded! I like your dynamics in this recording. I am reminded of your earlier recording in many ways, though I think I hear some new additions here dynamics and also note-wise and I think they make the piece much more mysterious and harmonically shaped.

That is a nice tribute to your former teacher, if I may say so, that you would dedicate it in his name.

On how to swtich off correction in IE, I do not know. I use Google Chrome, but I also have IE. Sometimes I compose messages in M. Word before just because sometimes the browser dies or reloads for some reason and my progress is lost.

It's amazing how much history this piece has, and its very cool to see the timeline, of when it was composed and when you took private lessons! Look forward to trying out (and later recording) the 2nd Mvt

_________________"I don't know what music is, but I know it when I hear it." - Alan SchuylerRiley Tucker

A recording by the composer, horray! I am very happy to hear your recording of this piece, your Jugendsünden since you have been nice enough to let me try it out!

Thank you, your interest and your performance, editing and arrangement of my piece are very inspiring for me and I´m very glad about that! I thank you a lot!

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I had a listen and sense from it that I have made a lot of errors and of those that the beginning should have been much faster of my recording.

Yes, I think, there are some small errors in your recording, but not worth to be mentioned. Though I like some of your changes, I choosed my original version, because I wanted to play it like it was thirty years ago. From my view generally everyone has the right to interpret a piece in his manner! I find that very important.

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I think most people define a piece by its composer so for that reason I am glad you were able to brand it the way you see to it that it should be branded! I like your dynamics in this recording. I am reminded of your earlier recording in many ways, though I think I hear some new additions here dynamics and also note-wise and I think they make the piece much more mysterious and harmonically shaped.

I play it just the way I like it now, may be in one year or later I would play some places in another way, who knows. I think, imaginations and ideas of a piece change and that´s a good thing. I think, I play this piece more emotional and may be a bit faster than in 1987 (for the others: this is the recording from the final school piano recital I have given containing only compositions by myself, I have send it as a mp3-file to Riley, so that he can relate to it). I have played it by heart then, btw, and so do I now (as you can see on YouTube). I try to bring out more the "big lines" now than singular motivs as I did in my old recording.

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That is a nice tribute to your former teacher, if I may say so, that you would dedicate it in his name.

It was a great luck to have had him as a teacher and I will be thankful my whole life for all he has given to me.

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On how to swtich off correction in IE, I do not know. I use Google Chrome, but I also have IE. Sometimes I compose messages in M. Word before just because sometimes the browser dies or reloads for some reason and my progress is lost.

O.k., thank you, so I will fumble around a bit more.

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It's amazing how much history this piece has, and its very cool to see the timeline, of when it was composed and when you took private lessons! Look forward to trying out (and later recording) the 2nd Mvt

That´s very kind of you. As I have supposed in my pm, you (or we both) could make a complete set of the sonata for the main-site. So, it would be necessary to re-record also the first movement in a better sound-quality. As a return I will play also some other pieces by you. Wouldn´t that be a great deal?!

From my view generally everyone has the right to interpret a piece in his manner! I find that very important.

Yes, there are those who compose and only want the performer to follow the score verbatim, but I think, there aer also those who think the performer should make it his/her own. So I think when the composer plays a piece he can either give a literal demonstration of the piece, or (like live music) do something totally different from the album version as it were.

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I play it just the way I like it now, may be in one year or later I would play some places in another way, who knows. I think, imaginations and ideas of a piece change and that´s a good thing. I think, I play this piece more emotional and may be a bit faster than in 1987 (for the others: this is the recording from the final school piano recital I have given containing only compositions by myself, I have send it as a mp3-file to Riley, so that he can relate to it). I have played it by heart then, btw, and so do I now (as you can see on YouTube). I try to bring out more the "big lines" now than singular motivs as I did in my old recording.

Yes, I agree, the big lines are there. And this is quite a bit faster, but I think the essence isn't lost in the speed. It just gives it a fiercer affect, IMO, (and if that makes sense).

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It was a great luck to have had him as a teacher and I will be thankful my whole life for all he has given to me.

It is wonderful to have a teacher who really can cultivate talent. And, I think, in the case of music composition, it is hard to find a good teacher (or these days, a teacher who produced solely classical or late-romantic type music).

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That´s very kind of you. As I have supposed in my pm, you (or we both) could make a complete set of the sonata for the main-site. So, it would be necessary to re-record also the first movement in a better sound-quality. As a return I will play also some other pieces by you. Wouldn´t that be a great deal?!

I would be glad to re-record the sonata for the Main site, however, I think it will be a long time before I will be able to get proper equipment. So, you can be sure I will record it, it will just take some time. Maybe I ought to fly to Germany and visit you for a weekend I'm sure I could knock it out in the same time?! That would be a great deal. And I have so many pieces for you to chose from. You really would have to pick which one out of my 24 page PDF score of the complete set. I look forward to receiving your next movement. I await it by email or pm.

_________________"I don't know what music is, but I know it when I hear it." - Alan SchuylerRiley Tucker

So I think when the composer plays a piece he can either give a literal demonstration of the piece, or (like live music) do something totally different from the album version as it were.

Yes, I agree to that.

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Yes, I agree, the big lines are there. And this is quite a bit faster, but I think the essence isn't lost in the speed. It just gives it a fiercer affect, IMO, (and if that makes sense).

Thank you for this feedback, Riley. It means a lot to me.

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It is wonderful to have a teacher who really can cultivate talent. And, I think, in the case of music composition, it is hard to find a good teacher (or these days, a teacher who produced solely classical or late-romantic type music).

Yes, that´s absolutely right. I think, good and traditional teachers like Franz-Josef Streuff are very rare today. He still stood in the tradition of 19th century to which he confessed his whole life long. He has studied in the 50th and was teacher until 1990. I still was in school (class 12) when he went into retirement. And beside a profound education he also was a person who had the ability to motivate. And that´s the most lucky combination for a teacher, which indeed is quite rare, I mean, if you have both qualities in the same high intensity.I try my best to follow him also as a teacher now.

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I would be glad to re-record the sonata for the Main site, however, I think it will be a long time before I will be able to get proper equipment. So, you can be sure I will record it, it will just take some time.

That doesn´t matter, you have all the time of the world. I have recorded all four movements now (so you have an actual imagination of how they can sound, see the related topic in AR, please). Of course, I´m very curious on your recordings and I thank you a lot for your interest and your kind offer to transcribe my handwritten scores (, which is really a task for a lion, unreadable as they are). So, I can´t thank you enough for that.

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Maybe I ought to fly to Germany and visit you for a weekend I'm sure I could knock it out in the same time?!

If you really would like to do that, I would be highly delighted. There is enough space in our house for a guest. You are welcome.

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That would be a great deal. And I have so many pieces for you to chose from. You really would have to pick which one out of my 24 page PDF score of the complete set.

So send me that pdf-file to my e-Mail-adress, please, and I will pick out what I like, o.k.? Or are there certain pieces you want me to play?

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I look forward to receiving your next movement. I await it by email or pm.

I have sent the complete rest of the sonata (mv. 2-4) by email to you today.

Yes, that´s absolutely right. I think, good and traditional teachers like Franz-Josef Streuff are very rare today. He still stood in the tradition of 19th century to which he confessed his whole life long. He has studied in the 50th and was teacher until 1990. I still was in school (class 12) when he went into retirement. And beside a profound education he also was a person who had the ability to motivate.

I am grateful to have had a chance to meet FJ and talk and make some music together. His health was already declining then, yet he was full of life and curiosity, even in his old age discovering new piano repertoire (he was practicing a Waltz by Rimsky-Korsakov at the time). I was very sad to hear of his sudden death some months afterwards.

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Maybe I ought to fly to Germany and visit you for a weekend I'm sure I could knock it out in the same time?!

Yes go for it Riley. That's a good hotel with a great cook And then you can hop over to the Netherlands to see me as well. Though I do not have any guest space, alas. Unless you want to sleep in the shed next to my sawing machine

even in his old age discovering new piano repertoire (he was practicing a Waltz by Rimsky-Korsakov at the time).

Yes, he played this valse also to me. The last pieces I have heard from him where some prelude by Liadov, btw. (This was in august 2011.)

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Yes go for it Riley. That's a good hotel with a great cook And then you can hop over to the Netherlands to see me as well. Though I do not have any guest space, alas. Unless you want to sleep in the shed next to my sawing machine

Just wanted to add, that Chris is right with the great cook, but it´s not myself. Would also be great to meet as a Trio in my house. May be we would find some six-hand-pieces.

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